Vassilis Sambrakos compares last year’s performance of Alexandros Paschalakis with that of the Czech goalkeeper in Superleague 2022
Since it did not come as a surprise to all of us, who observe the life of Greek professional football, apparently the interest of Olympiakos did not surprise Alexandros Paschalakis. In other words, this is not a decision that anyone can assume that the Greek international goalkeeper took “in haste”. In his mind, Olympiacos must have been a possibility from the beginning of the summer, that is, from the moment it became clear that he would not continue his career at PAOK.
In order to reach, through a process as objective as possible, an assessment regarding whether Paschalakis is “enough” for PAOK, it may be sufficient to compare the data of his performance in last year’s championship with that of Tomas Vatslik with Olympiakos in last year’s Superleague through Comparisonator, an international performance comparison platform.
Since they played a lot (Paschalakis 34 matches, Vatslik 32) the comparison, in terms of data volumes, is “fair”. And the one who observes the data is left with the impression that we are talking about two goalkeepers who had a similar quality of performance. Paschalakis, who took about 2 more shots per match, conceded 0.05 more goals per match. He had 0.13 more disposals per match, won 0.35 more aerial duels per match, made 0.33 more tackles per game, lost the ball 0.43 more times per match, made 0.8 fewer passes per game. The fact that the comparison of the data brings him so close to the Czech international goalkeeper combined with the impression he created about his playing status through PAOK’s progress in the Conference League,
The whole essence of the selection process of Paschalakis by Olympiakos at the given moment is hidden in the mental and spiritual elements of his case. If, through the process of interviews and contacts, Olympiacos formed the impression that the 33-year-old goalkeeper has built the right mentality and has tried to prepare himself mentally and spiritually to manage this new reality created by his move from PAOK at Olympiakos, Paschalakis, who has proven in the past that he has the mental strength to regroup, regroup, overcome difficult moments and crises and make comebacks like the one he did during the previous season, is an excellent choice. In fact, with the conditions that developed after Vačlik’s injury,today the option to acquire a goalkeeper with the resume and last season of Paschalakis.
